Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

  Yesterday, we took a break from planning for the big move and went to have lunch in Yui, a nearby town that's famous for sakura ebi, aka 'cherry-blossom shrimp'. This is the only place in Japan where these little shrimp are caught, and then they're shipped out from here to the rest of the country.
 I'd never eaten sakura ebi before, but Yuki knew of a place that serves good shrimp-related cuisine at a reasonable price. Problem is, everyone else seems to know about it too, judging by the line we had to wait in, first for parking and then to get into the restaurant. I think we waited about 45 minutes, all told...and we didn't even arrive at the restaurant until 2 pm!


  The restaurant itself is quite simple and unassuming--rather like a local diner, actually.


                        My appetizer: Japanese-style omelet with sakura ebi inside



 Yuki's lunch: fried sakura ebi, rice, raw sakura ebi, boiled sakura ebi salad, and soba. Notice a theme here?


                                My lunch: fried sakura ebi and soba

                          I have no idea how many tiny shrimp are in this thing

   After stuffing ourselves, we drove around town on the way home. I don't know the name of this little temple, but it seemed to be the main one in Yui. Very quiet and peaceful.






   Upon leaving Yui, we ended up driving down the main street and came across the sign that I think we were supposed to see on the way in: a huge pair of sakura ebi and a banner that said that name of the street was Sakura Ebi Road. (It may have said something else too, but my kanji-reading skills aren't all that great).

                                          Giant Shrimp Attack!!!